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U.S. officials authorized, tracked Russian spy plane’s flight over D.C.

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An unarmed Russian Air Force Tupolev Tu-154 jet was seen flying as low as 3,700 feet over downtown Washington D.C. on Wednesday, as well as Joint Base Andrews in Maryland, where Air Force One is maintained.  The flight received prior approval from U.S. officials and is a part of a longstanding overflight agreement between a number of participating nations.

The Tu-154 carried no armaments, but likely did possess a full complement of intelligence gathering equipment, as authorized by the Treaty on Open Skies the United States first agreed to on March 24th, 1992.  The treaty allows the agreement’s 34 signatory nations the right to conduct aerial observations of military assets possessed by other signing members.  Whether or not the jet flew at such a low altitude in order to more effectively gather some kind of intelligence, or simply to send a message to the American people, however, would be difficult to ascertain.

“The aircraft will be large and may fly directly over the US Capitol,” said the alert released to Washington D.C. police prior to the Tu-154’s arrival. “This flight will be monitored by the US Capitol Police Command Center and other federal government agencies.”

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  • Avatar
    Pat G

    Jason, I read that Russia imposes restrictions, and we are not allowed to fly over Moscow. Doesn’t that figure?

  • Avatar
    Leo W.

    According to the agreement:
    The annual passive quota for each State Party once the Treaty is fully implemented is set forth below:
    —42/year: United States, Russia/Belarus;
    —12/year: Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Turkey, United Kingdom, Ukraine;
    — 7/year: Norway;
    — 6/year: Denmark, Poland, Romania, Benelux (Belgium, The Netherlands and Luxembourg together);
    — 4/year: Bulgaria, Greece, Hungary, Iceland, Spain;
    — 2/year: Portugal, Czech Republic, Slovak Republic;
    According to the Executive Branch, each State Party’s passive quota was “loosely scaled to the size of the States Parties.”
    As for the last time we conducted a flight over Russian territory using the Open Skies Treaty, it’s hard to say, but there are articles dating back several years of us observing Russian Military bases.

  • Avatar
    Leo W.

    So if everyone knows what it is, is it still a spy plane? How about, in your face plane?
    Eisenhower actually proposed the first “open skies” intuitive, which Khrushchev promptly rejected.
    “Khrushchev’s strategy of rattling rockets he did not have required sustaining this situation. That is why he rejected a proposal from Eisenhower, at their first summit conference in Geneva in 1955, to allow the United States and the Soviet Union to fly reconnaissance missions over each other’s territory: it would have been, he complained, like “seeing into our bedrooms.”49 What Khrushchev had not known was that Eisenhower had a secret backup for his “open skies” inspection plan that would soon accomplish precisely its purposes. [U-2]”
    Gaddis, John Lewis. The Cold War: A New History Penguin Publishing Group.

  • Avatar
    Sean C

    Joy Ann Reid will say this is proof positive of collusion between President Trump and Russia – just like his marrying of a woman from “Soviet Yugoslavia.” (Ha! Stalin would’ve wished that that was the case.)

  • Avatar
    TexGrl

    Alex , when was the last we did this to any of the named countries under this treaty? Which countries besides Russia have exercised this ‘right’?